14 Most Polarising Video Games Of The Decade (So Far)

1. 'Walking Simulators' (Gone Home/Everybody's Gone To The Rapture/Firewatch)

What Works?

Easily the most divisive of all new-age video games, 2013's Gone Home finally kicked off the trend of calling them 'walking simulators' - which factors into just how up-in-the-air this genre is, because we don't have a name for it.

That said, this style of game is built to be a narrative delivery method, putting you in the shoes of a specific character or letting you experience a more script-heavy story, regardless of game mechanics. And when they work, games like Gone Home delve into what it feels like to explore sexuality across all those frenetic teenage years, Firewatch is all about the comfort and problems of running from life's problems, and Everybody's Gone to the Rapture delves into what it might mean if the quest for knowledge was ever fully satisfied.

We NEED games like these to expand the horizons of what video games can even do, or be, and though they put people off thanks to a lack of game mechanics, often the stories themselves are far more memorable.

What Doesn't?

With such a narrative focus where there's nothing to get you invested other than pushing the analogue stick forward or occasionally pressing a couple of buttons, it can be very easy for 'walking simulators' to drift into pretentious territory.

Only the seldom few like Gone Home are easily recommendable and accessible, with many others only making any semblance of sense if you want them to - if you're actively artistically-minded, and can apply a variety of meanings to what's happening onscreen, until something sticks.

This all factors into the "What is a game?" quandary, as many would say what 'doesn't work' in this genre of games, is the 'game part' itself.

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What's your definitive take on these polarising games? Let us know in the comments!